Published 7:00 pm, Wednesday, November 28, 2007

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John Dwyer, the unaffiliated alternate, won with 352 votes to Robert Ostrosky's 288 votes. After a recount of the results from the Nov. 6 election two weeks ago, the two candidates campaigning for a four-year seat each had 580 votes. A second election was required to decide who would ultimately fill the seat in 2008.

At the Sherman Town Hall Tuesday night at about 9:15 p.m., the ballots were counted from the town's one polling place and Dwyer was declared the victor.

Dwyer, an IBM engineer endorsed by the Democratic Party, is an active volunteer in town, serving as an emergency medical technician and firefighter. In his IBM post, he manages environmental operations for one of the company's research facilities.

Ostrosky, employed by Pepsi Bottling Group as a financial systems manager, is a four-year Planning and Zoning veteran who was criticized during this election for poor recent attendance. Dwyer's supporters hailed their candidate as attending more meetings as an alternate than Ostrosky did as the commission secretary.

Ostrosky defended his attendance record, noting that in two years of his term he donated more than 100 hours to work on the controversial FarView Farms and Chapel Hill subdivision applications. Missed meetings in the past year were due to the birth of a child and business travel, he said.

Neither man could be reached for comment Wednesday.

Planning and Zoning Commission Chairman David Hopkins said he is certainly pleased the election has been finalized and is happy to work with "whoever the citizens of Sherman elect to the commission."

"And I hope that all the commissioners are ready to work hard," Hopkins said.